Two days were now gone. More than half of the group's deadline to stay at that refuge passed in a blink. The others had a good time enjoying that span doing all sorts of things that helped them to relax. No wonder they did so, after a long trip anyone would want to pass their days just doing leisure activities.
However, there were those few ones who were willing to get their hands dirty, working nonstop to achieve more power.
Dean was one of those few. Together with Frederick, he passed all that time working on the smithy. His arms were achy because of the continuous effort. His shirt was soaked in sweat and had a strong smell. Anyone who looked at his body would think if he threw himself inside a lake and swam there.
Despite those traces of physical effort, other points showed how exhausted he was. The dark circles that were already on his eyes when he entered that smithy were now bigger and darker than before. He was always on the verge of falling asleep. At some point, he needed to move and work near the furnace, so the heat wouldn't let him sleep.
The physical effort also helped him to keep awake, but he was running out of energy, to the point where he thought a lot of times that he would pass out. Between his breaks, he would do a little training to improve his control on "Willpower" without Frederick noticing.
After pondering a lot, Dean decided to discover how he would work on the sword's blade while producing it. His uncle said to him a lot of times that, when your mind can't come up with something good to do, then let it find the answer through hard work.
In the end, he had good ideas to lessen the weight of the sword without making it less effective or resistant. The result would get heavier than he wanted, but it was far better than the sword he got before from the other member of the group.
It was noon already. The sunlight was covering all the refuge and soothing the minds of everyone. Take a sunbathe after a night of fear, despair, and much hard work, was a must to any survivor. Even in Dean's refuge was like that, even though their nights weren't so bad like out there.
When Dean noticed the sun appearing, he walked off that old smithy, letting the black hammer aside. Frederick was sleeping on the floor, but he had a light sleep and woke up when Dean passed by him.
The boy and the blacksmith enjoyed some minutes under that sun.
Practically, it was noon, so the sun was really hot. It shouldn't be that good to take a sunbathe at this hour for them, who stayed two days straight inside a place under a high temperature. However, the sunlight felt different on their skin.
Slowly, more people began to walk outside their houses and go to the streets. They avoided the shadows of the buildings as if it was a plague.
Dean had a nostalgic experience at that moment.
In Refuge Sarah, people would do the same thing, particularly in the harsh winter or storm season, when their time of daylight would be halved. Everyone would leave their houses right on the first minutes after the sun appeared and then would take a sunbathe.
After a good while resting and feeling that hot sensation on his skin, Dean opened his eyes and looked toward Frederick, smiling at him.
"Thank you for the help. You are a good guy!"
They both gave a high-five.
"And you are a cunning brat. I really believed on that bullshit about northern techniques." He chuckled, half-joking, half angry.
"Hehe, I never said that the northern techniques would be different than yours, did I?" Dean mocked him.
"Well, take your sword and vanish, then. I don't want to see anyone for a few days. I need to sleep for a whole day like a rock from now on! It was nice to work with you, regardless of the exhaustion."
Dean nodded his head to him, entering the smithy again and taking the finally finished sword.
Its black blade was well polished and no light could be deflected on it as if Dean stole a shard of the night. It was quite thin, but in the right measure in order to don't mess with its endurance. That blade was slightly curved, particularly on its tip. The grip was made with gray wood and was plain-looking, without any adornments.
'That's awesome. I think it is my best work until now. I never dealt with materials collected and processed just in time, but it feels different than just taking it from the marketplace.'
Dean was very proud of himself because of that work. Nevertheless, something didn't stop bothering him since the first day he began to work on it.
'I still can't stop to think about that thing that Frederick said. Enhancement seems to be interesting, and now I feel like my work is unfinished. But it lacks something I can't do right now...' He sighed. 'At least I still have a day more to train my "Willpower" control and read through the book, so I can find some information about this technique.'
After saying goodbye to Frederick and getting his sword with him, Dean finally left the smith Black Hammer. He made up his mind a while ago, deciding to start his training after a little nap. He knew that it would be a strain for his body, but he didn't want to wait any further to gather more knowledge.
He slept for four hours again and needed to struggle to his limits to get out of bed. His body was achy all over. Hammer a blade for several hours straight made his body nearly crumble a lot of times while on the smithy. Now, the effects of that hard-working were showing.
However, Dean remembered the words that Rick told to him before and it made his shaky legs begin to move.
"This is not your dreamland refuge, ok? That's the outside world. If you don't set your mind to kill before being killed, to dominate before being dominated, you will end up lying down under someone's foot."
The boy gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, then left the room he got on the Major's house.
'If I don't get stronger, I will not last until the day I will see my dear home and family again. I need to do my very best!'